MICHAEL SCHELLE(b. 1950 in Philadelphia) was
raised in northern New Jersey and graduated from NHR High School where,
as Captain of the track team, he held the all-state distance records in
the javelin, shot put and hammer for three years running. Now, 30+ years
running as Composer in Residence and
founder / director of the notorious JCA Composers Orchestra (new music ensemble) at Butler University in Indianapolis, he has been 3X nominated for the Pulitzer Prize in Music, a finalist for the
International Humour in Poetry Competition (Paris), a published author (film music book), and restaurant critic.

He
has received composition prizes, grants and awards from over 30
prestigious national arts organizations including the Rockefeller
Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, American Symphony Orchestra
League (NYC), American Pianists Association, National Band Association
(2012 Revelli Composition Prize), the Welsh Arts Council
(Cardiff), the Barlow Endowment for Music Composition, the New England Foundation for the Arts, the New York State
Arts Council, Arts Midwest, the Great Lakes Arts Alliance and ArtsFest 2015. He has held extended composition residencies at dozens of leading
American universities, conservatories and new music festivals, and at
Spoleto USA, Wolf Trap, the MacDowell Colony (NH), and many extended
residencies abroad - including the Czech Republic, Austria, Amsterdam,
Costa Rica, Poland (Warsaw and Krakow) Japan (X3 - Tokyo, Nagoya, Hiroshima) and China. Schelle holds degrees from Villanova
University (theatre), the Hartt School of Music (CT), the Trinity College of
Music, London, UK, (diploma), and a Ph.D. from University of Minnesota.
His composition teachers have included Aaron Copland, Arnold Franchetti, Paul Fetler and Dominick Argento. During the summers of 1998 – 2005, Schelle lived in Los Angeles, writing a film music book (The Score,
published in 2000 by Silman-James Press, LA, and translated / published in Korea
in 2013) - and working on the original scores for such Hollywood
blockbusters (?) as The Mummy, G Men from Hell and Bikini Prison. Visit: www.schellemusic.com

MICHAEL SCHELLE(b. 1950 in Philadelphia) was raised in northern New Jersey and graduated from NHR High School where, as Captain of the track team, he held the all-state distance records in the javelin, shot put and hammer for three years running. Now, 30+ years running as Composer in Residence at Butler University, his music has been commissioned and / or performed by over 350 orchestras, symphonic bands and professional chamber ensembles across the US and abroad, including the Chicago Symphony, the Minnesota Orchestra, the Detroit Symphony, the major orchestras of Pittsburgh, Buffalo, Louisville, Cincinnati, Kansas City and Cleveland, the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, the Manhattan Chamber Orchestra, Urban Elektra (Phoenix), ISIS (Dallas) and XTET (Los Angeles). Recent international performances of his music have included Kammerorchester Basel (Switzerland), the St. Petersburg (Russia) Chamber Orchestra, the Kremlin Chamber Orchestra (Moscow), the Czestochowa Philharmonic (Poland), Orquesta Sinfonica Nacional (Costa Rica), the Koenig Ensemble of London, the Banff Centre (Canada), the Beijing Opera House, CoMET (Tokyo), the Firenza New Music Festival (Italy), Zimbabwe, and the Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) Symphonic Wind Ensemble. He has received composition grants and awards from over 30 prestigious arts organizations including the Rockefeller Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, American Symphony Orchestra League (NYC), National Band Association (2012 Revelli Composition Prize), the Barlow Foundation, New York State Arts Council, Great Lakes Arts Alliance, New England Arts Foundation, the Welsh Arts Council (Cardiff) and the American Pianists Association, and has held extended composition residencies at dozens of leading American universities and new music festivals, Spoleto USA, Wolf Trap, the MacDowell Colony (NH), and in Europe, China and Japan, including Nagoya Imperial University. For his alter ego, during the summers of 1998 – 2003, Schelle lived in Los Angeles, writing a film music book (The Score, published in 2000 by Silman-James Press, LA, and translated / published in Korea in 2013) - and working on the original scores for such Hollywood blockbusters (?) as The Mummy, G Men from Hell and Bikini Prison.

MICHAEL SCHELLE(b.
1950 in Philadelphia) : raised in Bergen County, northern New Jersey,
Schelle graduated from Northern Highlands Regional High School where, as
Captain of the track team, he
held the all-state distance records in javelin, shot put and hammer for
three years running. Now 30 years running as Composer in Residence at Butler University's School of Music in Indianapolis, he has been 2X a Pulitzer Prize nominee, recipient of the Rockefeller Foundation Composition Prize, a finalist for the International Humour in Poetry Competition (Paris), a published author (film music book) and restaurant critic (Indianapolis).

Schelle's
music has been commissioned and/or performed by over 350 orchestras,
wind bands and professional chamber ensembles across the US and abroad
including the Chicago Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra, Detroit Symphony, Milwaukee
Symphony, Buffalo
Philharmonic, Cincinnati Symphony, Pittsburgh Symphony, Louisville
Orchestra, Indianapolis Symphony, Kansas City Symphony, Nashville
Symphony, Greenwich (CT) Orchestra and Chorus, Honolulu Symphony,
Alabama Symphony, Dayton Philharmonic, Missouri Symphony, the District 99 Symphony Orchestra (Chicago), the New York Festival Orchestra, the
principal orchestras of Albany (NY), Tulsa, Baton Rouge, Birmingham,
North Carolina, Springfield (Mass), New Jersey, New Mexico, Portland (OR), Aberdeen, Arizona, Knoxville,
Evansville, Kalamazoo, Newark-Granville (OH), Fort Collins (CO), Fort Smith (AR) and Fort Wayne (IN); the Manhattan Chamber Orchestra,Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, Cleveland Chamber Symphony, New World Chamber Orchestra, Orkestra Projekt, Columbus Pro Musica, XTET (Los Angeles), Voices of Change (Dallas),SONOR (San Diego), ISIS New Music Ensemble (Austin),Urban Quartet of Phoenix, AZ, Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble, Eastman School of Music New Music Group. His music for symphonic winds has been commissioned and/or performed by dozens of the most prestigious wind ensembles across the U.S. including Eastman,
University of Texas-Austin, University of Michigan, Arizona State University,
Indiana University, Kansas State, Michigan State, University of Nebraska, Ithaca, University of New Mexico, Ohio State
University, the Hartt School, Butler University, Virginia Commonwealth, Oklahoma, Florida,
IPFW, SUNY, USC, LSU, etc.

Schelle has received composition grantsand awards from many prestigious arts organizations including the NEA (National Endowment for the Arts), the Rockefeller Foundation (NYC), American Symphony Orchestra League (NYC), League of American Orchestras "Music Alive" program, Organization of American States(OAS), Welsh Arts Council (Cardiff, Wales UK), International Percussive Arts Society, the 2012 National Band Association's William D. Revelli Memorial Composition Prize, American Pianists Association, Barlow Endowment for Music Composition(UT), Great Lakes Arts Alliance, New England Foundation for the Arts, Pennsylvania Arts Commission, Indiana Arts Commission, New York State Arts Council, Arts Midwest, Arts Council of Indianapolis, ArtsFest 2015, NPR, ASCAP and BMI.

Schelle has held numerous extended composition residencies in the USA including the MacDowell Colony (New Hampshire), Spoleto USA Festival (Charleston, SC), Wolf Trap Center for the Performing Arts (Virginia), ICAM (Institute of Contemporary American Music), the Albuquerque Youth Symphony Program and the Finger Lakes Music Festival (upstate NY). He hasbeen the featured Guest Composerfor residencies and ALL-SCHELLEMUSIK
programs (chamber groups, orchestras and symphonic wind ensembles),
masterclasses and lectures at many institutions across the US
including the University of Massachusetts, University of Kansas, University of Oklahoma, Sam Houston State University, Arizona State
University, Catholic University of America (Washington D.C.), Louisiana State University, Washington State University, Ohio State University, California Lutheran University, Eastern Michigan University, Syracuse University, University of Notre Dame, Trinity University (San Antonio, TX), Bowling Green State University, University of Wisconsin-Madison, University of New Mexico, Carnegie Mellon University, Kent State University, Northern State University (South Dakota), Southern Illinois University, Capital University, Tarleton State University (TX), Old Dominion University, University of Louisiana-Lafayette, USC, UCLA, NYU, Pacific University (OR), various SUNYs . . .

Recent international Guest
Composerresidencies have included: The Krakow Academy of Music (Poland) and the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music (Warsaw, Poland) 2016, 2017; Nagoya Imperial Graduate University, Japan (Summer 2013 and Fall 2009), Aichi Prefectural University (Yazako, Nagakute, Japan: Summer 2013 and Fall 2010), The People's Power Grid University School of Music (Beijing, China, 2010), and the National
University of San Jose / Orquesta Sinfonica Nacional (Costa Rica).

Schelle holds degrees from Villanova University (theatre), the Hartt School of Music / University of Hartford,Trinity College of Music, London, UK, (diploma) and a Ph.D. from University of Minnesota. His composition teachers have included Aaron Copland, Arnold Franchetti (student of Richard Strauss in 1940's Munich), Eric Stokes, Paul Fetler (student of Hindemith, Boris Blacher) and Dominick Argento. Schelle's works are published by MMB Keiser Classical / Hal Leonard, Indiana University Press, European American Music, American Composers Edition (NYC) and commercially recorded by CRS (Philadelphia), Innova (Boston) and Albany Records (NYC/London). During the summers of 1998 – 2005, Schelle lived in the Los Angeles area, writing a film music book (The Score,
published in 2000 by Silman-James Press, LA, and published (in Korea)
in 2013) - and working on the original scores for such Hollywood
blockbusters (?) as The Mummy, G Men from Hell and Bikini Prison.

January 2010 : Schelle was in CHINAwith the South Shore Orchestra (Chicago) for eight concerts in Beijing, Shanghai, Hangzhou, Zhoushan and Ningbo. Sponsored by the Confucious International Center, Schelle's 2002 Piano Concerto, Wright Flight was featured on each concert,MIHO SASAKI,piano. The programs also included music by Copland, Paganini, Strauss, and two Chinese composers.

Schelle was named Distinguished Composer of the Year by the Music Teachers National Association during the MTNA national conference in Wichita, KS for his large chamber work Musica Magnetizarre (commissioned by Indiana University)

December 2001 : The Indianapolis Star selected the Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra's performance of Michael Schelle's 3-mvmt violin concerto, Play Us Chastity on Your Violin(featuring Czech superstar violinist Livru Prunaru) as the No. 1 Classical Music Event of 2001 in the City of Indianapolis

John Cage
started a standing ovation for Schelle's chamber piece, HOWL (1986)
after a performance at the University of Kansas in 1988. HOWL was also
presented with guest participant Allen Ginsberg
in 1995, with the poet performing on his treasured squeeze box (a gift
from Bob Dylan) reading a 'new part' specifically written by Schelle for
the occasion.

As an undergraduate at Villanova University, Michael Schelle studied briefly with iconic San Francisco Beat poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti and spent a long night in the Philadelphia city lockup following an underage drinking raid on Kelly's Bar

In one of the most surreal adventures of his career, Schelle was certain they had called the wrong phone number when Lawrence Central High School (IN) "Spirit of Central" Marching Bandcalled and asked permission to arrange excerpts from his orchestral works, Crash-out, Samurai, The Last Ride and Detour to Nowhere for their eleven-minute 2003 half-time program. Creating an elaborate, sophisticated and complicated show, the 175-member LCHS
marching band went on to place very high in regional, state and
national competitions (Bands of America), including the coveted "First Place : "Best Music"in the ISSMA BOA National Invitationals !!